The subject matter disclosed herein generally relates to clearance control between rotating and static components of a gas turbine engine and, more particularly, to thrust balance manipulation for clearance control.
Gas turbine engines, such as those used to power modern commercial and military aircrafts, generally include a compressor section to pressurize an airflow, a combustor section for burning hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of the pressurized air, and a turbine section to extract energy from the resultant combustion gases. The airflow flows along a gas path between components through the gas turbine engine.
Accordingly, a gas turbine engine includes a plurality of rotating components arranged along an axis of rotation of the gas turbine engine, in both the compressor section and the turbine section. The gas turbine engine also includes a number of static components. The rotating and static components of the gas turbine engine are made from many different materials and vary in size, thickness, and dimensions. Therefore, each component has a growth pattern that includes thermally and mechanically expanding and contracting at different rates. Such component growth during operation, if left unaccounted for, could cause rotating components of the gas turbine engine to undesirably come into contact with static components causing damage to the gas turbine engine.
Accordingly there is a desire to find a way to control the clearance distances between the rotating components and the static components of gas turbine engines.